Pick of the Week: North Loop Nbhd

Has the North Loop lost its mojo? Despite a recent light rail extension, a multi-modal transportation hub, a new(ish) ball park and top-notch dining, some say the development energy has shifted elsewhere downtown. Established North Loop condo and townhome developments continue to thrive, but where are the builders? Has developer interest shifted towards the Mill District? Or Loring Park? Or toward Lowertown St. Paul? If you use New Construction home sales as a guide, your answer could be: “Maybe.”

The Infosparks chart shown above illustrates this changing dynamic. For the 12-month period ending June 2014, new construction closed sales were up 47.1% for Mpls-Central, which includes all of downtown. This raises another question: Is the condo craze back? Good question. More on that in a later post. Meanwhile, new construction closed sales for the same period were down 20.0% for the North Loop. Of all downtown Minneapolis new construction sales for the 12-month period, the North Loop comprised 15.1% in 2012, 7.1% in 2013 and 3.9% in 2014.

If you rely more on word-of-mouth or personal experience as opposed to MLS data (not sure why you would, but people make choices), your answer could very well be different. If you’re looking to sample the flavors of the North Loop, we highly recommend Bar la Grassa, Saffron and Smack Shack. Some of those dishes will make you forget all about consumer demand for multi-family new construction.